


Footnotes from A Moon Calendar

by cosmicmilktea



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 07:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14159982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicmilktea/pseuds/cosmicmilktea
Summary: Jongdae has always wanted to fit in, and so he hides from the moon.





	Footnotes from A Moon Calendar

 

Jongdae has always wanted to fit in, and so he hides.

He wears contacts for his too-bright eyes, pretends like vegetarianism does not disgust him, and every full moon he concocts stories of deadlines or family matters and locks himself in the warehouse space his mother brought with what could have been his college tuition.

Jongdae then bolts the numerous padlocks on the door and chains himself to a sturdy pipe - Even though he knows he was trained well enough to never hurt anyone - Even when his vision is red and every particle of air that stirs his furs makes him aware of everything all at once and he feels invincible. Some days it is easy to believe that the padlocks and chains are just part of who he is. Some days he just wants to wrench the offending metal away, run through the woods and howl into the welcoming darkness.

***

Jongdae wanted to fit in, so he did what people do. He got himself a nice job in a nice firm, bought a smallish, nice apartment. And surprisingly enough, found a nice guy.

Jongdae thought himself incredibly fortunate that Junmyeon is in the know as far as his realm of existence is concerned, but Junmyeon’s family is rigid and old - The kind that views his kind with politely masked disdain, possessing of a supernatural high ground that he cannot exactly comprehend.

So Jongdae told Junmyeon that he was bitten as a child, that he never wanted this. Somewhere, Jongdae imagines his mother bristle, remembers her stories and her admonishing him to take pride in his lineage. Imagines Minseok hyung’s soft, disappointed huff of breath. But Jongdae wanted to fit in and so he made his smile fill with self depreciation and a sadness that was not entirely fabricated.

Junmyeon was sympathetic and obviously cares about his well being, respectfully allows Jongdae his space every full moon. Or perhaps _too much_ space. As the moon gently unfolds its phases across the sky Jongdae cannot help but think that Junmyeon had carefully went around everything that was _Jongdae_ in a neat, clear cut orbit that the other man never breaches. Jongdae scratched the surface of the metallic warerhouse walls and counted the phases idly, a feeling of hollowness and want churning in a stomach that calls for blood and crisp air.

After thirty six full moons, Jongdae told Junmyeon that it was over, and ran away before the consequences of a normal life caught up to him like pitchforks and bonfires in a different time.

Jongdae wanted to fit in, but he didn’t want to lose himself in the process. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he again remembers his mother’s stories, and this time his smile fills with a strange contentedness because all this is part of him, and that there is pride in being what he is.

***

Then Jongdae met Kyungsoo, all quiet and unassuming and yet familiar all at once, and they got close quickly enough – Almost too quickly given Jongdae’s own track record of going around in a safe circuit around the people he knows.

Jongdae puzzled over this until it was a full moon and both of them spent too much time indoors and it was almost dusk as he tried to scrabble for an excuse – But then Jongdae saw the panic mirrorred in Kyungsoo’s eyes and he just _knew_.

“I know a safe place” Jongdae said before he could even think about the consequences, about what it meant - but the pull of the moon was in his blood, and before Kyungsoo’s wide-eyed silence he let his eyes flash yellow – the contacts virtually useless this close to the full moon.

Kyungsoo looked at him for a long time, or perhaps no time at all, before he nodded, and followed Jongdae quietly down to the warehouse – their steps echoing each other through empty blocks as both run for the safety of concrete walls and light-proofed windows.

They spent the night curled up against each other, Kyungsoo's grey furs soft against his own tawny ones and it was supposed to be strange and awkward but it wasn’t. And as the moon settles down on the horizon they both wake up and casually enough, went for a cup of Earl Grey for breakfast and an ungodly amount of medium rare steaks for lunch. Their fingers intertwine against each other, trembling between tentativeness and a strangely fierce desire to not let go.

Later on, it was without question that Kyungsoo settles himself beside him on the cold concrete floor in the next full moon, and then the next. The tea and steaks become their thing, of sorts, and Jongdae can smell his own scent on Kyungsoo, wonders if the other man notices the same thing.

It was six full moons later that Kyungsoo looked straight into Jongdae’s eyes and asked him to run with him through the woods. No chains, no bolts, and his wide, wide eyes brooking no doubt at all that they will be just fine - And Jongdae cannot help but nod and nod and embrace the other man and it feels like coming home, somewhat.

Jongdae has always wanted to fit in, always tried to – But this is different. Kyungsoo is different.

Sometimes, sometimes you just fit.

***


End file.
